Biggest Surprises this season??

bughunter99 · July 21, 2012

For me it has been the F3's from Seattle's Blue Woolly Mammoth! In year where when the heatwave has slowed down the pollination of everything, two of three of these plants are tomato machines! (The third has done nothing, lol)

The fuzziest bluest leaved plant is loaded with tomatoes but none have ripened yet so I have no idea if there will be any blue to them, they are definitely striped. It definitely measures up in the edible landscaping department though. This plant is very attractive. Before fruiting, no one recognized it as a tomato. The least fuzzy, least blue plant has been giving huge amounts of tasty medium size red and orange round tomatoes for weeks with no sign of slowing down, despite being in the hottest part of the yard. This plant clearly has some parents that don't mind heat! LOL

Biggest disappointment? Terhune. One malformed tomato on it so far. My volunteer plants are doing better.

Stacy

livinonfaith · July 22, 2012

Kibic/ Kibit's Ukrainian gave a lot of fruit for such a small plant, and was tasty, too. I will grow that one again, for sure.

Yellow Trifele (more orange than yellow for me) was one that I kind of thought would just be a fun novelty, but turned out to taste really good, too. It does have a very thick skin, but that was a bonus in our up and down rain cycle this year, as it didn't split as badly as most.

In my mini tomato taste test, my brother was impressed with the flavor and appearance of Blonde Boar. It was also pretty prolific, especially compared to most of my others.

White Rabbit, super sweet tiny little tomatoes and a ton of them, even in my dissapointing straw bales. Very few make it into the house as I eat most of them in the garden.

Black Cherry has a fantastic flavor, although not terribly prolific for me in the straw bales.

KBX may be my favorite fruit this season, but I only got one of them (12 oz.) from the straw bales. (hoping I'll get another after we cool down a bit.)

Amish paste wasn't exactly a surprise, I loved it last year, too.

Juanne Flamme was a big hit in our taste test, but it had a terrible problem with BER.

One of our dwarfs, Waratah, was also very good. Nice full tomato flavor.

RobinB · July 22, 2012

My best surprise is the season itself. I have been able to "get away with" tomatoes that in a normal year I couldn't have grown, or would have been picking in late August or early September, or perhaps not at all before the first frost. Normally I don't get tomatoes until mid-August, but this year, I've been picking tomatoes since early-July! My favorites so far are Green Zebra Cherry, Arbuznyi, Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye, Malachite Box and Black from Tula.

Living:
I wonder what is different between our Blonde Boars? I am finding mine to be... well, sharp without any sweetness at all. When are you picking them? I have tried them when the green stripes are still there a little bit, when the stripes have all turned a darker yellow, and today I picked one that I left on the plant until the stripes are reddish-gold. They aren't exactly "spitters," but there's no sweetness there at all! You're right, they do look cool and the plant is very prolific!

July 21, 2012	#1
bughunter99 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: zone 5 Posts: 821	Biggest Surprises this season?? For me it has been the F3's from Seattle's Blue Woolly Mammoth! In year where when the heatwave has slowed down the pollination of everything, two of three of these plants are tomato machines! (The third has done nothing, lol) The fuzziest bluest leaved plant is loaded with tomatoes but none have ripened yet so I have no idea if there will be any blue to them, they are definitely striped. It definitely measures up in the edible landscaping department though. This plant is very attractive. Before fruiting, no one recognized it as a tomato. The least fuzzy, least blue plant has been giving huge amounts of tasty medium size red and orange round tomatoes for weeks with no sign of slowing down, despite being in the hottest part of the yard. This plant clearly has some parents that don't mind heat! LOL Biggest disappointment? Terhune. One malformed tomato on it so far. My volunteer plants are doing better. Stacy

July 22, 2012	#2
livinonfaith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina Posts: 1,332	Kibic/ Kibit's Ukrainian gave a lot of fruit for such a small plant, and was tasty, too. I will grow that one again, for sure. Yellow Trifele (more orange than yellow for me) was one that I kind of thought would just be a fun novelty, but turned out to taste really good, too. It does have a very thick skin, but that was a bonus in our up and down rain cycle this year, as it didn't split as badly as most. In my mini tomato taste test, my brother was impressed with the flavor and appearance of Blonde Boar. It was also pretty prolific, especially compared to most of my others. White Rabbit, super sweet tiny little tomatoes and a ton of them, even in my dissapointing straw bales. Very few make it into the house as I eat most of them in the garden. Black Cherry has a fantastic flavor, although not terribly prolific for me in the straw bales. KBX may be my favorite fruit this season, but I only got one of them (12 oz.) from the straw bales. (hoping I'll get another after we cool down a bit.) Amish paste wasn't exactly a surprise, I loved it last year, too. Juanne Flamme was a big hit in our taste test, but it had a terrible problem with BER. One of our dwarfs, Waratah, was also very good. Nice full tomato flavor.

July 22, 2012	#3
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	My best surprise is the season itself. I have been able to "get away with" tomatoes that in a normal year I couldn't have grown, or would have been picking in late August or early September, or perhaps not at all before the first frost. Normally I don't get tomatoes until mid-August, but this year, I've been picking tomatoes since early-July! My favorites so far are Green Zebra Cherry, Arbuznyi, Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye, Malachite Box and Black from Tula. Living: I wonder what is different between our Blonde Boars? I am finding mine to be... well, sharp without any sweetness at all. When are you picking them? I have tried them when the green stripes are still there a little bit, when the stripes have all turned a darker yellow, and today I picked one that I left on the plant until the stripes are reddish-gold. They aren't exactly "spitters," but there's no sweetness there at all! You're right, they do look cool and the plant is very prolific!